"The measure will allow thousands of gay couples living in Hawaii and even more tourists to marry in the state starting Dec. 2.

"An estimate from a University of Hawaii researcher says the law will boost tourism by $217 million over the next three years."

As NPR's Bill Chappell reported last month: "Gay marriage was in a legal gray area after 1993, when the state's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the unions. But a constitutional amendment that was adopted five years later took jurisdiction from the courts and gave it to the Legislature, which then banned same-sex marriages."